The present invention relates to gas and liquid contact apparatus, and more in particular to a contact body which includes an internal drift eliminator section.
Gas and liquid contact bodies for use in evaporative coolers, humidifiers, heat exchangers, and the like, have been proposed in the past which utilize cross-flow of gas and liquid in the contact body in order to remove heat from the liquid. Such contact bodies have been proposed which are constructed of cross-corrugated sheets of material such as plastic, cellulose, paper and other kinds of materials, as are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,792,841; 3,395,903; and 3,500,615. Such contact bodies have been generally satisfactory in use and commercially successful.
Typically, such contact bodies are used in an enclosure or casing in which the liquid is distributed over the top of the fill and allowed to flow by force of gravity through the interstices or passages in the contact body with the currents of air which are drawn through the body by a power driven fan assembly o the like. It has been found that there is tendency for water particles in the contact body to drift or be carried along with the rapidly moving air currents toward the air outlet side of the contact body. As a result, separate drift eliminators are sometimes provided adjacent the air discharge space of the fill assembly in order to eliminate or minimize water loss from the contact apparatus through the air discharge opening thereof. Such mist liminators have been separate elements positioned downstream of the outlet side of the contact body, as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,500,615.
The separate drift eliminators of the prior art require additional space within the contact apparatus in order to accommodate the additional width thereof. They also are not capable of returning the liquid to the contact body where it can be further cooled by continuous passage through the contact body.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved contact body in which a mist or drift eliminator is included within the contact body itself.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a improved gas/liquid contact body of the type described.
A further object of the invention is to provide a gas/liquid contact apparatus which includes a drift eliminator and which is of the same width as a conventional contact body apparatus.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a combination gas contact body with drift eliminator that is relatively simple in construction and inexpensive to manufacture.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a gas and liquid contact body is provided for use in a gas and liquid contact apparatus in which gas and liquid flow in cross-flow relationship to one another. The contact body has opposed edge portions and includes first and second sets of corrugated sheets having corrugations formed therein disposed in a direction transversely of the horizontal plane of the contact body. The sheets of the first set are disposed alternately with the sheets of the second set and the corrugations of the first set cross the corrugations of the second set. The sheets have first and second opposed edges located in the direction of gas flow and the corrugations define passageways in the contact body between the edges of the sheets. The sheets in the first set are narrower, edge to edge, than the sheets of the second set thereby to define a space between each of the second sheets at one edge of the contact body. A separate narrow sheet having undulations formed therein is positioned in each of those spaces. The undulations of those separate narrow sheets are inclined oppositely from the inclination of the corrugations of the first sheets to restrict moisture droplets from leaving the contact body through the edge thereof.